Chapter 2 - 14

“Hey Reginald,” Travis said, standing. “I was…um…practicing.”

“See, there’s your problem. The trick is to treat it as if it’s a completely natural thing you’re trying to do. You had it at the end until you started thinking about it. Of course, if you want to get on top of that building…” Archer braced himself and then jumped forward, 20 feet in the air, to land on the roof of the building Travis was trying to climb. “I would just jump up.”

“Oh! Let’s see here…” Travis said, beginning to squat slightly.

“Don’t think about it. Clear your mind of your expectations of what you can do. Just jump.”

Travis tried to clear his mind of any agitation, and jumped. He tried to mask his surprise at soaring much higher than he though he could and subsequently fumbled the landing, crashing into some loose boxes on the roof. Reginald helped him back up. “There you go, just…think about the landing a small bit.”

“Thanks.”

They sat down on the roof, watching the sun beginning to set. “I understand you were challenged,” Reginald said.

“Yeah, but I just didn’t think I could go through with it. Sure, it was weeks away, but I needed more information that I got. So I went with the vase.”

Reginald nodded. “At least you’re aware of what it’s like in there.”

Travis shuddered. “Yeah, it was terrible. Hopefully whoever challenged me doesn’t try again.”

“Oh, I’m sure he won’t, on account it was me.”